In addition to its well-known function in muscle energy, creatine is essential for brain growth and function. Because the brain’s protective barrier prevents access, supplements frequently don’t help neurodevelopment in persons with creatine deficiency illnesses.
In order to overcome this barrier and restore normal brain function, researchers are creating a revolutionary method to deliver creatine straight to the brain. Early research indicates potential for enhancing brain health in disorders that currently cause many people to struggle cognitively for the rest of their lives.
Breakthrough Targets Brain Creatine to Boost Cognition
Creatine’s Role in the Brain: Creatine helps with memory, learning, and seizure control and is necessary for brain cells to produce energy.
Impact of Deficiency: Individuals with creatine deficiency frequently use supplements to increase their muscle mass, yet they still experience severe neurodevelopmental problems.
Innovative Delivery: of get beyond the natural obstacles that keep supplements from being effective, a focused approach of delivering creatine straight to the brain is being investigated.
For energy-consuming cells in skeletal muscle throughout the body, as well as in the brain and heart, creatine is extremely important, according to Chin-Yi Chen, a research scientist at Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC.
Chen is a member of a research team that is trying to create a method that delivers creatine straight to the brain via focused ultrasound. A $30,000 grant from the Association for Creatine Deficiencies will fund the research, which is being carried out in the lab of Assistant Professor Cheng-Chia “Fred” Wu of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute.
In the brain, creatine performs a crucial role by combining with phosphoric acid to form adenosine triphosphate, a chemical that is necessary for living cells to produce energy. Creatine affects neurotransmitter systems in addition to its function in energy production.
For instance, creatine affects the main inhibitory pathways in the brain that use gamma-aminobutyric acid, a neurotransmitter that reduces the excitability of neurons in the central nervous system. It might be involved in learning, memory, brain growth, and seizure regulation, among other things.
Given that it is transported to neurons by glial cells in the brain and has the ability to affect transmission between neurons, an increasing amount of studies indicates that creatine may also act as a neurotransmitter. In addition to weakening the heart and skeletal muscles, creatine deficiency illnesses can have a serious negative impact on the brain.
The brain’s protective blood-brain barrier is mostly to blame for this. In addition to preventing infections and toxins from penetrating brain tissue, this selective shield can also keep healthy chemicals like creatine from getting to the brain when levels are low.
Wu investigates therapeutic focused ultrasound, which accurately targets sound waves to brain regions to which temporary access has been granted. Drugs can reach damaged tissue thanks to this technique without endangering the nearby healthy cells. Wu sees possibilities for using this technique to address creatine insufficiency in addition to researching it as a possible treatment for children brain tumors.
The early phases of Chen’s initiative will focus on employing targeted ultrasound to transport creatine across the blood-brain barrier because deficits in this nutrient can affect brain development. In models of creatine deprivation, Chen expects the method will restore normal brain mass.
